Walking near thy Footsteps (Dark XII)

[Ellie who has 0%]

(A post-mission thread)

A dark portal rippled right in front of the Old Mansion with purpose. A early message had tipped him to come here. Although the portal vanished, whisps of darkness still lingered before mending in the black hooded cloak. Yes, he still false attire, but that would only last a bit longer. Looking behind him, his eyes narrowed at the brocken Romanian columns. He wondered how elegant this place was before it fell into pieces. No matter, their past wasn't the one he was interested in. He was only interested in the footsteps that walked into this mansion, the same footsteps he followed as an assitant prodegy.

His nose wrinkled at the stench of nobodies. The smell would've made his skin crawl in disgust if he had any. This location behind him, the clearing, was where all the members of Organization XIII was born. This was where Lexeaus dropped his name, the heartless name, Elaeus, and took the name Xemnas gave him like an obedient pup. He refrained from sneering knowing this was the exact location the abomination was born thanks to his stupidity. Eliminating his mistake was one of the prime reason, he joined the membership with old friends he shared old history with. Now he touched the door of the mansion feeling a sense of guilt and awe. Not to long ago his teacher was once here to rid of his mistake.

The irony....

Pushing the door, he walked inside before slowly closing the door to not make a sound. He could've portalled inside, but that would've deminished the personal connection he felt at the moment. Morals for Elaeus was gone when his heart was corrupted; he wasn't sure if he was to feel anyway about this. Was it right to be mystified right now about the person he turned his back on for his own curiousity and greed? For a moment, he wondered what they all felt about everything in the past, or was the past so irrelevant with the tasks and hurdles at hand?

Perhaps it is...

Looking around he saw the stairs to the upper level assuming that it's a three floor mansion. The signature of nothingness was sensable, but faint as it jagged across the top floor. A nobody was stored somewhere up there, but the same one traveled about. He wasn't too fully sure if his teacher was here at one point, but with the knowledge of the Organization XIII end given by the Memory Skyscraper reflecting the memory's of the nobody world. He was there on The World That Never Was. He was the one with assistance to restore Sora's memory. Ansem the Wise seemed to be the only one he could think of to have that much research and skill to pull it off. After all he was the one who intrigued the study of the heart.

Questions started to fill his mind, but he first must find a place within here that suits perfectly for researching. Ansem always had a computer with his researches. Kneeling down, Elaeus' tanned fingers touched the floor. With a bit of force, his body started to merge with the floor as he became one with the Earth that made this Mansion. Unnoticeable he manueved with the Earth with causing a moving lump on the first floor. It was uncomfortable to be changing Earth mediums to travel throughout the mansion.

Merged with a wall, his head poked out made of bricks. His eyes split open with the cement to see a courtyard. No computer, he sinked back in and began moving. He didn't bother to enter the rooms on the upper floors, there weren't plently eletrical cords to give suspicions of technologic usage.

Think Elaeus, what would Ansem do?

His mind rippled back to his memories. Everywhere they worked was below ground. The excess use of technology caused rooms to be warm quickly especially with the bright lights they had in the labatory. Surely Ansem haven't changed that much to have his new research lab hidden away in the depths of this mansion. This logic seemed assuring and far more correct than any other thought he had.

Traveling south without distrubing the eletrical wires, he had to cease with a hard thump. He couldn't continue forward. It felt like iron or steal to be rimming the room beneath the first floor, the basement.

I found it..or something alteast perhaps...

A dark portal rippled, and the Heartless fell. Like a cat, he landed somewhat gracefully on the cold floor. The room was chilled, and what do you know there were computers and...pods. Looking around he found a door.

"So there's the entrance..." With knowledge on where the basement was pin point, he wouldn't use doors. With the upcoming task at hand, he might as well barracade all entrances. He wouldn't like interference.

Walking over towards the computer with it's multiple viewing screens, he pulled the chair back as a finger pushed the power button. Watching the screen turn on, he knew for a fact that Ansem was here. He was stopped by a password.

"Typical.."

[darkunslint]

Dilan was here for one reason only. He was asked to come here to meet an old friend, Elaeus. The news of a computer that may be able to help the Dark Xll, or more important master Ansem made the Typhoon angler curious. The small gateway of darkness morphed from fin air behind Elaeus. From it stepped out a man, a trench coat consumed the man, wrapped around almost all of his skin. The mans hair a tidy well looked after mix, not at all matching his trench coat. Those deep, piecing eyes, making your attention drive to them at all times. Finally, tied around his back, seven large harpoons, all in a circular pattern around his back making it look like a giant shield.

“Elaeus” the man spoke, “ What is it that you have found?” He glared down at his old friend; slowly he pulled down his hood, shaking his perfect hair. “ It better be worth my time, I’m a busy man and you know I hate having my time wasted.” This man was Dilan.

Slowly but carefully Dilan walked up to the computer. “ Struggling for a password?” Dilan half chuckled at this. “ Isn’t it obvious? Ansem always used the same password…” This was true to Dilan’s knowledge, if this computer was anything like his old one then the password was… “ The password will probably be the princess of heart.” He smirked; it was very rare for Dilan to feel pleased at himself for something that was revolved around fighting, killing or slaughtering people. And yes, to Dilan those three things had differences.

“So, what did you really want me for” Dilan mumbled, knowing that there must be some real purpose to being called out.

[Ellie who has 0%]

A familiar dark signature snaked into Elaeus' senses. It has been a while, since he have spoken to Dilan; he might as well give him the heads-up and news now that he had arrived here. As he spoke, Elaeus stared at the blue illuminating screen, while blinking incredulously with the lack of idea of what the password maybe. The Earth Titan began to lightly tap on a key without fully pressing it.

"Princesses of Heart you meant," there were obviously more than one. "Yes, he did used that one numerously, but I doubt it relates to whatever is inside this computer."

Elaeus had heard of the Princesses of Heart. They were the selective group of pure hearted maidens to unlock the final keyhole, and together they can create a keyblade formed from their hearts, the Dark Keyblade. It's the truest dark keyblade with it's ability to release a heart from its vessel. His mind swam through his memory to remember the Princesses of Heart names.

Snow White, Jasmine, Belle, Cinderella, Alice, Aurora, Kairi.

"I have doubts this would be it. After all this was the same computer used to send Sora's nobody into a simulated worlds to fix Sora's ...chains of memories. There tends to be a reason or a method to his madness; I would seem so unlike Ansem to have a password so..unrelated." He spoke, while typing, then turned to Dilan once finishing the last name.

"You may seem like a busy man, but according to Ansem," Elaeus was so tempted to say Xehanort instead, "you have been doing...nothing. What have you been up to Dilan? Surely you have heard the mission you have given by Ansem. If you were to stick around long enough instead of venturing towards whatever, you might know."

"He liked the idea of having some dormain of the mansion's basement. He sees it as a good spot for Even to execise freely. Plus we'll need this computer for are next pick-up. With the expansion of territory, we need suboridnates. You have one to persuae. He's a synthesizer heartless, who's somewhere roaming around Traverse Town-"

A loud beep stopped Elaeus from talking as a window popped on the screen.

"Well, I guess Ansem isn't so predictable after all." It was hard to say that and make such judgement of his old teacher. He wondered how furious and dissappointed he was in them, his apprentice. Elaeus forcefully removed the thought from his head; he doubted he could bare the image of a highly shamed sage shaking his head in displeasure at his pupils.

It pop-up read: "This is the property of DiZ. This computer will resume a shut-down if the password is fail to be entered." On the side there was a countdown a timer.

"DiZ? I thought this was Ansem's computer."

It seems even after death Ansem wasn't so typical; amusing how the karma of his apprentices' betrayal can be tossed back at them. Ansem had truly changed a lot. He was a researcher on the hearts, who had current experiments dealing with Sora and Roxas. Seeing this new anonymous enigma was still a shock even if it was foreboding.

"DiZ, I never heard of it, but this have to be Ansem's." He didn't want to make his frustration clear, but his fist clenched together. How could he not know? "Damn enigmas. He never keeps it simple. If it's not one thing; it's a bloody ambigram, acryonym, or a bloody double entendre." Elaeus' fingers laced together to form a shelf to rest his chin. "Any ideas?"

This was going to be a long day, and if they don't find out anything, the computer may shutdown.

"Knowing him, there's probably a timer to prohibit us from logging in again after so many trails."

If I had a tongue and tastebuds, I can use some seasalt icecream...

[darkunslint]

“ Bah, you always ask to many questions Elaeus, one day it will be the end of you. You should do less questions and more action, if your that interested in where I go why don’t you follow me some time” Dilan tried and failed to hold in a small chuckle “ that’s of course… presuming you could watch what I do in my spare time” Dilan’s glance became icy, icier than ice itself, Elaeus may be a heartless… but he did have some decency left, what a pity.

“ No need to get stressed, you’re the thinker here, I just like to brake things in my spare time… and brake people” Dilan was always like this, to Dilan this was his normal, breaking people was fun, mentally first, then physically. “ Hmm, Diz… Ansem’s alias at a guess? Password… password… What was that girl called? That one that was used by the organisation to use Sora… what was her name dammit” Dilan was always well informed, even during his absence he knew exactly what was going on, he liked to keep informed.

“ Well regardless. You did not answer my question, why did you call me out here after such a long time of silence between us? Surely it wasn’t for this stupid computer. And if you must know I was going to go find that Synthest kid but you called me here. So… what is it? What do you really want Elaeus?”

Dilan just wouldn’t believe that Elaeus wouldn’t call him all the way out here for no reason, it didn’t seem like him, this computer was obviously not a reason but was he trying to chicken out now? Why else would he avoid the topic? Something was wrong.

Sea-salt… pfft.

[Ellie who has 0%]

Elaeus snorted at Dilan's lack of help. "Her name is Namine, but I doubt she would have anything to do with this. It feels too much of a personal vendetta to incorporate the name of a mere nobody who easily made Sora's memories crumble like a cookie smothered in warm milk. I have a feeling it have something to do with the name."

A lightbulb clicked once it dawned on him. Their teacher had always used anagrams and acryonyms. For example, DTD was door to darkness. With a thought, he reflected on his nobody Lexaeus. His name was a product of his own, but with an addition of an x; it was an ambigram. Everyone knew that, and everyone knew it was Xemans, an ambigram of Ansem, who gave the new names. It was as if he gave a little reference gifted to Ansem the Wise, who ironically used ambrigrams a lot.

Hmm, Diz… Ansem’s alias at a guess? Dilan's voice echoed in his head repeatedly.

Ansem..Alias.. They had the same amount of letters and started with the same one, but that was just a coincedence. Alias...Names...Ansem.. How ironic? Ansem's name was had a logical ambigram..names. It does give a connection of him having multiple names, if DiZ was his alias. The way DiZ was written there had to be an acronym.

The name..DiZ have to be an acronym, but why would he need an alias..., the name and reasoning seemed to secret that it itched Elaeus. It had to be the password..the name, its acronym. He tried to remember the gathered information about Ansem.

He was completely consumed in his mind that he didn't hear Dilan. His questions would have to be placed on the back burner a while longer.

"Before we dived into darkness and ceased the experiments under Ansem's instructions, where did Xehanort banished Ansem to? I'm sorry, but I have too many questions in my head to answer many in return."

[darkunslint]

And there went Elaeus. He was on one of his rants to himself; it was as if Dilan didn’t even exist. Stupid Elaeus, Dilan hated to be ignored and Elaeus knew this. Dilan was getting frustrated with all of this; it was starting to tick him off. Then, a smart idea came to Dilan… Well smart for Dilan anyway. “ I’ve got an idea” was his only mumble, slowly he walked up to the computer, nudging past Elaeus, knocking him slightly. Dilan began to breath slowly, concentrating on what must be done. His focus was absolute.

Slowly he placed his hands on the keyboard. “ Here goes nothing…” He clenched his fists on the keyboard and raised them, slamming them down at speed towards the main console of the computer; a metallic ring filled the room. He continued to hit it for a few more seconds, hitting different places, dinting panels and knocking them. They always said, “if you hit something it will always work”… didn’t they?

“ Think that’ll do it?” Dilan said mockingly to Elaeus. To be honest, Dilan knew this probably didn’t work; he just wanted to get back at Elaeus for ignoring him.

Dilan took a few steps backwards, standing back into his original spot. The Typhoon Angler took his stance, crossing his arms across his torso. He would have to be careful, he could see a fist heading his way, and maybe he went too far? Naaaaa.

Dilan looked back at the screen, waiting, hoping that by some miracle it would of actually worked. At the very least, hopefully he had really annoyed Elaeus.

[Ellie who has 0%]

Of-course it wasn't the realm of dark or light. Elaeus thought to himself, but his eyes blinked him back to reality once feeling Dilan squeeze between him and the desk. His widened once seeing a full view of Dilan's rear right at his eye level. They narrowed at the Heartless' back as he scooted back to re-claim his personal space.

"Dilan what the hell do you think you're doing?" The Earth Titan questions as the figure darkness uttered, "Here goes nothing."

Crystalline blue eyes watched the keyboard go up, and as if he had a premonition, Elaeus tried to stop the insane attention whore, the Typhoon Angler, from his next action. He shouted for Dilan to stop and wrapped his arms around his torso to pull him back, while still sitting in the rolling chair. The harder he tugged in desperation to save the computer the harder Dilan swatted.

It all stopped. Elaeus's bronze hair was all over his head with wide crystalline blue eyes in terror. The computer, Dilan nearly ruined the computer. The Typhoon Angler stepped back, and the Earth Titan scooted forward to check the condition of the keyboard. Thank goodness all the keys were still there. His hands touched the dents. WHY DID HE DO THIS?!

"No......." Elaeus whispered as diamonds started to probe from his frame. "Hitting it does absolutely nothing!" The Heartless hissed, and it fizzed out. "Nothing, Ansem was banished into the realm of Nothing. While we were discovery the mysteries of the hearts, Ansem was stuck in the realm of nothing mostly haboring with his own darkness of his shame...and hatred towards us."

D-darkness...Now what does the Z stands for?

"Dilan don't you dare make another move..."

He was stuck in Nothingness, Nothing, Nada, Zero, while only surviving with his own darkness. Was that it Darkness..Zero..Darkness in Zero?

"Now if I can't type Darkness in Zero in this computer, then you better find away to refrain me from through a thick shard of diamond at your head, damn attention whore." The last part was muttered lowly as he began typing.

Why does Dilan hcildish nature had to occur now of all moments? I thought he was over that....as if...

[darkunslint]

Dilan watched the thought go through Elaeus’s head. Had he helped in some way by being so stupid? Pfft, who cared? “ Now that you’ve got that damned password… Why the hell did you call me all the way out here? Oh, and im sure the computer will be fine, I didn’t hit it /that/ hard.” Dilan was feeling so bored, maybe he should go find that Synthest person. Maybe he could fight this Synthest person?

“ About my mission… Is this Synthest strong? Will he be a good fight?” Dilan’s eyes almost lit up with eagerness, it had been far too long since the typhoon Angler had fought a worthy opponent, none had seem to suffice, he always killed them. Dilan let out a large over exaggerated sigh before finally stating “ So… answer the damned question before I bang that computer again. Why did you call me out here?”

All the time he was asking these questions Elaeus was mumbling to himself about something, you could almost feel the concentration emitting from him. It w3as laughable to Dilan. Then something caught his interest. “ My head eh? That might be fun, we should try that some time.” Dilan smiled lightly, over confident of his own skills, although he had improved tremendously, his ability become far more than what it was and he had the advantage of knowing Elaeus’s powers thanks to a previous conversation. Elaeus however knew none of Dilan’s powers now.

Bah, he would have to spar with his old friend… one day.

Dilan watched, as Elaeus seemed to contemplate more and more of what he was doing. Why was this so obsessive to him, he was like an old man, Dilan almost laughed at that thought… almost.

[Ellie who has 0%]

Elaeus typed the new possible password and clicked ok once finishing typing.

"Yes, Dilan, you're little mission shall be somewhat entertaining for you. Yes, I called you here for a specific reason. You proclaimed asking questions would be the end of me, but your wandering about and over-confidence can be the end of you. You said that I should follow you to see what you have been up to, but I must say...refrain from doing anything...stupid."

He knew Dilan was up to something, and hopefully this invincibility and secrecy charade would end before someone had to bust his bubble. Yes, Elaeus had many contacts with Ansem, and he would distaste in having to do anything towards Dilan, Ienzo, and Even. He wished Dilan to think wisely of future actions before he end up being a pawn. It was very rare for a pawn to survive. Most of them fall in mere testing.

"That's all I ask of you. Don't do anything stupid. I would hate to find out sooner or later that you are. I already know that Ansem mission was a complete fallacy." If he was still irrate Elaeus would've used more vulgar terms. "Alright? Plus we don't want you killing the Synthesizer. Then again some highly doubt it." The Heartless teased jokingly.

"Since it seems you're in a hurry, you can leave if you wish, and be patient. I'm sure you can wait a while longer about that spare of ours." Elaeus spoke with a straight face and turned back towards the computer. He made a few clicks and taps, and he was in. Truthfully, Elaeus wasn't worried about fighting with Dilan. He never was and probably would never be. Then again when in doubt, all he had to do was spare more. Ela was on the menu.

What could be more dangerous then one being too active in his spare time that doesn't adds up? Elaues thought to himself.

[darkunslint]

“Pfft” was Dilan’s first response, the first one that came to his mind and the first one that he always used. Laughter was his second. “ Heh, you think that im going to do something stupid? Like what? I do as Master Ansem tells me; it is all that I do. It was true Dilan listened and did as he was told. He was loyal and obedient in that aspect. In his mind he was a Queen Masquerading as a pawn.

“ Fallacy eh?” Dilan smiled slightly. “ You think I lied” Dilan smiled even wider now. “ Are you sure its not the fact that Master Ansem wont trust you with such… delicate information?” He knew this would annoy Elaeus, Dilan knew how to press buttons, especially those he knew well. “ Just because I told you doesn’t mean Master Ansem wanted me to, maybe he just doesn’t trust you enough yet, who knows?” This was comical to Dilan; it was like a giant sit-com.

Finally he was asked to leave. “ No, I think I will stay for a bit longer, I want to know what it is you are up to, besides, I have questions of my own.” Dilan was being honest, he was interested, maybe for the wrong reasons, but he was interested nonetheless.

“ Elaeus” Dilan’s tone was serious now, “ What do we hope to achieve…” His voice was very serious and almost upset, a very rare thing for Dilan. “ What are we doing all this for? Is there really a point to it all? You wanted me to be wise and I know you want me to be honest so tell me. Why do you follow all this, I hope you know we speak in confidence.” Dilan was going to find out what he wanted to know.

“ I never quite understood… what are we doing.” And so is the fate of the pawn.

[Ellie who has 0%]

"Pfft, Dilan you told me so yourself or have you simply forgotten?" Elaeus tend to have a great memory. His eyes rolled at Dilan's weak attempts. It was useless to try to bother him this way when he does have frequent meetings with Ansem. "Nice try Dilan, but I must say you are getting weaker at that. Who knows what else you're weakening at?" A brow arched as he glanced at the Heartless.

He was wondering how quickly would Dilan leave. He doubted he would stay any longer with the new mission he had, but the aero Heartless decided to stay. What a turn of events? The question was spoken in his mind as Elaeus scrolled through Ansem's recent files and documents.

"Well look who's asking the questions. Well isn't it obvious, I'm looking through Ansem's old files." He blinked, while memorizing the names of the file. None of them seemed to be what he was looking for. His ears perked when Dilan uttered his name.

"Dilan there's a purpose for everything, and I don't seem to follow you." Elaeus gave Dilan a confused look, an arched brow before turning towards the screen. "You seem to be more forgetfull than usual."

"Do you find everything that's set-up...useless? Sounds like you have a lot of troubling thoughts upstairs."

(woo dead thread...well let me complete what I wanted to do here)
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Dilan Dilan Dilan, what could possibly going on?

Elaeus sighed, while trailing fingers through his hair. He could finally do what he had came here to do. Maximizing the program he had opened, he pulled out a little gadget, a USB port to be exact. Softly he pushed it into the CPU until it glowed. He waited until it took the information he wanted as well as the program. No he wasn't copying, but transfering.

"This will come in handy soon," he watched the blue bars of the download progress move back and forth until it would reach 100%. "Ansem said this would be a good place for Even, but who knows how long it secrecy will last. Another shall be made soon. He won't mind..."

Minutes rolled by before he can officially eject the USB port safely. With a smirk, he changed the password, Dark XII.

Hm, I should have Seed implant a bomb inside...but that is too messy...perhaps.

With that last thought in mind, Elaeus teleported out.